Donald Trump Can Take a Joke Only So Far
Self-deprecating humor seems hard for him to swallow.
— -- The annual Al Smith Dinner is a political tradition where presidential candidates are supposed to trade playful jokes with their opponents.
While Hillary Clinton ended her set Thursday night with a more pointed political message than is customary at the dinner, which is hosted in New York City to benefit Catholic charities, the brusque and sometimes biting barbs delivered by Donald Trump served as another example of how the real estate mogul can only take so much joking at his own expense.
After a series of lighthearted quips -- mocking his immodesty and acknowledging the similarities between his wife's remarks at this summer’s Republican convention and a previous speech by Michelle Obama -- Trump’s comments took a sharper turn.
He implied that Clinton hates Catholics, based on emails hacked by WikiLeaks, and called her crooked and corrupt, which he has said repeatedly on the campaign trail but less appropriately so in the ballroom of the Manhattan Waldorf Astoria.
Trump seemed undeterred when the crowd started booing, saying he couldn't tell whether they were booing him or Clinton.
Trump has been the butt of jokes at other political events, the clearest example being the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where he was skewered by host Seth Meyers and President Obama over his “birther” theories.
Thursday night's dinner wasn't even the only recent example of Trump’s having trouble taking jokes in stride.
Although he hosted an episode of “Saturday Night Live” earlier in the election season, he has now called for the show to be canceled in light of Alec Baldwin's latest impersonation of him.
It's hard for some people -- perhaps including Trump himself -- to laugh at the Republican nominee and the election in general because the stakes are so high.
At the final presidential debate the night before the Al Smith dinner, Clinton noted how Trump’s talk of rigged elections and award shows during the most recent presidential debate was "funny, but it’s also really troubling."
And even some of Trump’s supporters are having trouble seeing the funny.
Republican Stephen Baldwin, the actor brother of Democrat Alec, told ABC News in the spin room of the debate Wednesday that while his brother "does the voice brilliantly" he thinks the SNL skits are inappropriate.
"It's really not funny because this election is not funny,” the younger Baldwin said. “It's really serious.”